Air-oil separator with jet-enhanced impaction and method associated therewith

ABSTRACT

The combination of a gas-pressure-driven pump jet nozzle or alternatively Coanda effect nozzle with an impactor nozzle(s) in an air-oil separator for separating oil from blow-by gasses from a crankcase of an internal combustion engine, or for separating liquid aerosol from gas, in general. Such combination enhances impaction efficiency and enables operation at higher pressure differentials (or pressure drop) (“dP”) without causing excessive backpressure in the air-oil separator.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/880,302, filed Jan. 25, 2018, which is a continuation fromU.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/780,076, filed Sep. 25, 2015, nowU.S. Pat. No. 9,879,578, which is the U.S. National Stage of PCTApplication No. PCT/US2014/032027, filed Mar. 27, 2014, which claims thebenefit of and priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.61/806,040 filed Mar. 28, 2013. The contents of these applications arehereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for inertialimpaction in air-oil separators used with crankcase ventilation systemsand other gas-liquid separation applications.

BACKGROUND

Inertial gas-liquid separators remove and coalesce liquid particles froma gas-liquid stream. In a crankcase ventilation application, it isdesired to vent combustion blow-by gases from a crankcase of an engine.Untreated, these gases contain particulate matter in the form of oilmist and soot. It is desirable to control the concentration of thecontaminants, especially if the blow-by gases are to be recirculatedback into the engine's air intake system. The oil mist droplets aregenerally less than 5 microns in diameter, and hence are difficult toremove using conventional fibrous filter media while at the same timemaintaining low flow resistance as the media collects and becomessaturated with oil and contaminants.

A gas-liquid separator in a crankcase ventilation application can beused as an air-oil separator. An air-oil separator includes a housinghaving an inlet for receiving an air-oil stream from an enginecrankcase, and an outlet for discharging an air stream to, for example,an air intake manifold. A nozzle structure in the housing has aplurality of nozzles (holes) receiving the air-oil stream from the inletand accelerating the air-oil stream through the nozzles. An inertialimpactor in the housing is in the path of the accelerated air-oil streamand causes a sharp directional change of the air-oil stream. The sharpdirectional change causes oil particles to separate from the air.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,290,738 discloses an inertial gas-liquid separatorincluding a housing having an inlet for receiving a gas-liquid stream,and an outlet for discharging a gas stream. A nozzle structure in thehousing has a plurality of nozzles receiving the gas-liquid stream fromthe inlet and accelerating the gas-liquid stream through the nozzles. Aninertial collector in the housing in the path of the acceleratedgas-liquid stream causes a sharp directional change thereof and inpreferred form has a rough porous collection surface (collection media)causing liquid particle separation from the gas-liquid stream of smallersize liquid particles than a smooth non-porous impactor impingementsurface and without the sharp cut-off size of the latter, to improveoverall separation efficiency including for smaller liquid particles.Various housing configurations and geometries are provided.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,699,029 discloses a crankcase ventilation system for aninternal combustion engine having a jet pump suctioning scavengedseparated oil from the oil outlet of an air/oil separator and pumpingsame to the crankcase. The jet pump supplies pumping pressure greaterthan the pressure differential between the higher pressure crankcase andthe lower pressure oil outlet, to overcome such pressure differentialand the back flow tendency otherwise caused thereby, and instead causesuctioning of scavenged separated oil from the oil outlet and pumpingsame to the crankcase.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,870,850 discloses a crankcase ventilation system for aninternal combustion engine having a jet pump suctioning scavengedseparated oil from the oil outlet of an air/oil separator and pumpingsame to the crankcase.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,202,339 discloses an inertial gas-liquid impactorseparator including an inertial impactor collector having an impactorsurface extending diagonally relative to axially accelerated flow, whichsurface is preferably a cone having a leading tip axially facing andaxially aligned with the acceleration nozzle. In a further aspect, firstand second inertial impactor collectors are provided in series, with anorifice in the first inertial impactor collector providing a nozzle forthe second inertial impactor collector. Improved performance is providedby reducing the extent of the stagnation region to change from a narrowband particle size range to a wider band range and to shift cut-offsize. An inertial gas-liquid impactor separator has a perforated layerof coalescence media having at least one aperture through which thegas-liquid stream flows. Improved performance is provided by increasedpenetration of the flow into the media patch and thereby enhancingparticle capture by interception, impaction and diffusion.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,191,537 discloses a crankcase ventilation system for aninternal combustion engine including a separator and an amplifierincreasing at least one of flow and pressure along the flow path throughthe separator to provide higher separation efficiency.

SUMMARY

A first embodiment relates to a gas-liquid separator. The gas-liquidseparator comprises a housing having an inlet for receiving a gas-liquidstream and an impactor nozzle plate supported by the housing andsituated downstream of the inlet, the impactor nozzle plate receivingthe gas-liquid stream. An impactor nozzle extends through the impactornozzle plate and provides a passage for the gas-liquid stream to passthrough the impactor nozzle plate, thereby creating a pressuredifferential between an upstream end of the impactor nozzle and adownstream end of the impactor nozzle when the gas-liquid stream ispassed through the impactor nozzle plate. A pressurized gas jet nozzleinjects a high-velocity gas stream into the gas-liquid stream so as todecrease the pressure differential.

Another embodiment relates to methods and systems for enhancingcollection of liquid particles in an inertial gas-liquid separator. Inthe methods and systems, a first stream of gas mixed with liquidparticles is received and directed through an impactor nozzle and at acollection media, thereby creating a pressure differential between anupstream end of the impactor nozzle and a downstream end of the impactornozzle when the first stream is directed through the impactor nozzle.Subsequently in the methods and systems, a second stream of gas isinjected into the first stream so as to decrease the pressuredifferential and increase a velocity of the liquid particles as thefirst stream is directed at the collection media.

A further embodiment relates to a gas-liquid separator. The gas-liquidseparator includes an impactor nozzle receiving a gas-liquid stream andproviding a passage for the gas-liquid stream to pass through theimpactor nozzle, thereby creating a pressure differential between anupstream end of the impactor nozzle and a downstream end of the impactornozzle when the gas-liquid stream is passed through the impactor nozzleplate. The gas-liquid separator further includes a plenum surroundingthe impactor nozzle, the plenum providing a stream of pressurized air tothe impactor nozzle. The gas-liquid separator includes a jet nozzleinjecting the stream of pressurized air into the passage.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts that arefurther described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is notintended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subjectmatter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope ofthe claimed subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view of a central jet system of agas-liquid separator for a crankcase ventilation (“CV”) system accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 shows another cross sectional view of the central jet system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of the central jet system of FIG. 1within a housing.

FIG. 4 shows a cross sectional view of a central jet system with variousboundary conditions of a gas-liquid separator for a CV system accordingto an exemplary embodiment.

FIGS. 5 through 13 show results of computational fluid dynamics (CFD)modeling of various examples of central jet system of FIG. 4.

FIG. 14 shows a cross sectional view of a ring jet system of agas-liquid separator for CV system according to an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 15 shows cross sectional views of the pressurized gas jet nozzle ofthe ring jet system of FIG. 14.

FIGS. 16-18 show results of CFD modeling of the ring jet system of FIG.14.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the present description, certain terms have been used for brevity,clearness and understanding. No unnecessary limitations are to beimplied therefrom beyond the requirement of the prior art because suchterms are used for descriptive purposes only and are intended to bebroadly construed. The different systems and methods described hereinmay be used alone or in combination with other systems and methods.Various equivalents, alternatives and modifications are possible withinthe scope of the appended claims. Each limitation in the appended claimsis intended to invoke interpretation under 35 U.S.C. § 112, sixthparagraph only if the terms “means for” or “step for” are explicitlyrecited in the respective limitation.

Disclosed herein are gas-liquid separators and methods and systemsassociated therewith. The gas-liquid separators and methods and systemsassociated therewith may be further described based on the followingdefinitions.

Unless otherwise specified or indicated by context, the terms “a”, “an”,and “the” mean “one or more” or “at least one.” For example, “a nozzle”should be interpreted to mean “one or more nozzles.”

As used herein, “about”, “approximately”, “substantially”, and“significantly” will be understood by persons of ordinary skill in theart and will vary to some extent on the context in which they are used.If there are uses of the term which are not clear to persons of ordinaryskill in the art given the context in which it is used, “about” and“approximately” will mean plus or minus ≤10% of the particular term and“substantially” and “significantly” will mean plus or minus >10% of theparticular term.

As used herein, the terms “include” and “including” have the samemeaning as the terms “comprise” and “comprising.”

The present disclosure combines a gas-pressure-driven pump jet nozzle oralternatively Coanda effect nozzle with an impactor nozzle(s) in anair-oil separator for separating oil from blow-by gasses from acrankcase of an internal combustion engine, or for separating liquidaerosol from gas, in general. Such combination enhances impactionefficiency and enables operation at higher pressure differentials (orpressure drop) (“dP”) without causing excessive backpressure in theair-oil separator.

Inertial impactor air-oil separators are used for crankcase ventilation(“CV”) applications, but their aerosol separation efficiency can beconstrained by the allowable crankcase backpressure. Inertial impactionefficiency of aerosol from blow-by gases increases as impaction velocityof the blow-by gases increases. For example, impactor d50 (the aerosoldiameter separated at 50% efficiency) decreases with the inverse squareroot of impaction velocity “U”: So increasing impaction velocity byfactor of 4 would drop (improve) the d50 cut-size by half (i.e., give amuch higher efficiency on a given size distribution aerosol mix).Impactor D50 equation in Hinds “Aerosol Technology” (Cc=Cunningham slipcorrection factor,

=viscosity, Dj=jet diameter, Stk ₅₀=constant of ˜0.24 for round nozzleimpactor design, ρ_(p)=density of aerosol, U=average gas velocity innozzle).  Equation 1:

The particle diameter having 50% collection efficiency, d₅₀, can becalculated according to the following equation:

${d_{50}\sqrt{Cc}} = \left\lbrack \frac{9{D_{j}\left( {Stk}_{50} \right)}}{\rho_{p}U} \right\rbrack^{1/2}$

Pressure differentials across an impactor nozzle also increase with thesquare of impaction velocity (U). The available pressure-drop to drivethe inertial impaction separation process is usually limited by themaximum allowable back pressure. For example, in crankcase ventilationapplications, engine seals may fail under higher backpressures withinthe crankcase, thereby limiting the maximum allowable backpressure to atypical range of 5-20 inches of water (“in H₂O”, which is equivalent toabout 1.25-5 kPa).

The present disclosure describes systems and methods to create a pumpassist of the blow-by gases through an impactor nozzle by providingpressurized air via a central jet nozzle and/or Coanda nozzle, therebycreating a higher allowable dP and increased efficiency withoutnecessarily increasing the backpressure within the crankcase. Thecentral jet nozzle has also been shown via computational fluid dynamics(“CFD”) modeling to provide an additional boost (beyond the simple dPreduction benefit) to separation efficiency by accelerating liquidparticles into a high-velocity central jet within the impactor nozzle,increasing impaction efficiency in an impaction zone.

Crankcase ventilation air is saturated with moisture because it containscombustion by-products. If the air-oil separator is below freezing, thismoisture can condense/freeze on the nozzles, causing blocked nozzles,high pressure drop, and other subsequent problems (bypass valve opening,low efficiency, engine de-rate, warning lights, etc.). By utilizingrelatively hot post-turbocharger boost air to supply the pressurizedair, the nozzle freezing problem can be prevented. In one example, thepost-turbocharger boost air is taken before the charge-air cooler.Providing relatively hot air can enable mounting of the air-oilseparator at a location remote from the engine. In one example, theair/oil separator is mounted within an air cleaner housing.

Central Jet Arrangement

Referring to FIG. 1, a cross sectional view of a central jet system 100is shown according to an exemplary embodiment. The central jet system100 is part of a gas-liquid separator for a CV system. The central jetsystem 100 receives blow-by gases 102 from a pressurized source (e.g.,from a crankcase of an internal combustion engine). The blow-by gases102 include a mixture of air and oil aerosols. To separate the oilaerosols from the air, the blow-by gases 102 are passed through animpactor nozzle 104 and onto a porous impaction surface 106. The porousimpaction surface 106 may be impermeable or permeable. The central jetsystem 100 utilizes a central pressurized motive jet nozzle 108. Themotive jet nozzle 108 delivers a pressurized and high-velocity jet ofclean air (i.e., a “core jet”) into the impactor nozzle 104 to create astrong vacuum/mixing effect thereby creating a pumping effect thataccelerates the blow-by gasses towards the porous impaction surface 106(i.e., the core jet reduces pressure drop caused by the flow of blow-bygases 102 through the impactor nozzle 104, enabling the blow-by gases102 to impact the porous impaction surface 106 with a higher velocity,which increases separation efficiency of the aerosols from the blow-bygases 102). A pressurized air chamber 110 provides pressurized clean airto the motive jet nozzle 108 to inject a high-velocity air stream intothe stream of blow by gases 102 at the upstream end of the impactornozzle 104. In some arrangements, the air in the pressurized air chamber110 may have a pressure of approximately 30 psig. The air in thepressurized air chamber 110 may be fed from a turbo charger of aninternal combustion engine. The resulting mixed jet of clean air andblow-by gases 102 may experience a Bernoulli effect that causes theblow-by gases 102 to move radially inward (i.e., approaching the centralaxis 112), which has a secondary benefit of increasing the depth ofpenetration of the blow-by gases 102 into the porous impaction surface106, thereby further increasing efficiency of the central jet system 100beyond the simple “dP equivalent” operating condition.

Still referring to FIG. 1, the motive jet nozzle 108 is axially alignedwith the impactor nozzle 104 along axis 112. In an alternativearrangement, the motive jet nozzle 108 is not axially aligned with theimpactor nozzle 104. In further arrangements, the motive jet nozzle 108can range from being axially aligned (as shown in FIG. 1) with theimpactor nozzle 104 to being displaced almost up to the point oftangency with the impactor nozzle 104 before pumping performance of thesystem of the present disclosure is no longer enhanced. Accelerating thestream of blow-by gases 102 with the high-velocity gas jet reduces apressure differential between an upstream end of the impactor nozzle 104and a downstream end of the impactor nozzle 104, thereby enabling higherimpaction velocity of the blow-by gases against the porous impactionsurface. The geometry of the motive jet nozzle 108 provides a flow rateto enable a dP reduction in excess of 20 in H₂O for the by-pass gases102 (i.e., crankcase pressure is neutral despite an equivalent nozzle dPof greater than 30 in H₂O if the motive flow were shut off).

Referring to FIG. 2, another cross sectional view of the central jetsystem 100 may include a plurality of pressurized motive jet nozzles 108and a plurality of impactor nozzles 104. The plurality of motive jetnozzles 107 may be formed by drilling or molding small orifice hole(s)in a manifold plate 202. The manifold plate 202 is spaced from theimpactor nozzle plate 204. The impactor nozzle plate 204 has orificesextending there through that comprise the impactor nozzles 104.

Referring to FIG. 3, a perspective view of the central jet system 100 isshown within a housing 302. As shown in FIG. 3, a gas-liquid stream ofblow-by gases 102, such as for example an air-oil stream, enters thehousing through the blow-by flow inlet 304. This blow-by gases 102 flowsaround the outside of the turbo inlet manifold 306 and through theimpactor nozzles 104 (as shown in FIG. 2). Meanwhile, clean pressurizedair, exhaust, or another suitable gas enters the housing through, forexample, the turbo inlet 306. This gas flows through the motive centraljet nozzles 108 (as shown in FIG. 2). The motive central jet nozzlescreate a stream of high-velocity gas that is pumped into the air-oilstream at an upstream end of the impactor nozzle 104. The high-velocitygas stream and air-oil stream then pass through the impactor nozzles 104and hit the porous impaction surface 106. Oil aerosol particles stick tothe porous impaction surface 106, while air flows radially outwardlyafter changing direction upon hitting the porous impaction surface. Thisair exits the housing through the outlet 308.

Referring to FIG. 4, a cross sectional view of a central jet system 400of a gas-liquid separator for a CV system with various boundaryconditions is shown according to an exemplary embodiment. The centraljet system 400 is similar to the central jet system 100 of FIGS. 1-3.The central jet system 400 includes an impactor nozzle 402 that directsa flow of blow-by gases towards impaction media 404. The impactor nozzle402 has a diameter of 3 mm and a height of 3.3 mm. In an alternativearrangement, the impactor nozzle 402 has a diameter of 3 mm and a heightof 7 mm (e.g., as shown in FIG. 7). The central jet system 400 includesa motive jet nozzle 406 directing a high-velocity jet of clean air intothe impactor nozzle 402. The motive jet nozzle 406 has a diameter of 0.9mm. The motive jet nozzle 406 is supplied by a pressurized air supply408 (e.g., from a turbo charger of an internal combustion engine) at apressure of zero psig (i.e., “no assist”), a pressure of 10 psig, apressure of 20 psig, or a pressure of 30 psig.

A theoretical study was performed on the central jet system 400 usingCFD to understand the boost in pumping and enhancement of aerosolseparation provided by the central jet. The results of the theoreticalstudy were compared with a baseline model consisting of a 3 mm isolatedimpactor nozzle (i.e., a similar impactor nozzle to that of the centraljet system 400 without the additional pumping effect caused by themotive jet nozzle of central jet system 400) at a blow-by mass flow rateof around 1.2 SCFM, which causes a pressure drop of 19.3″ of H₂O. Theresults of the study are discussed in further detail below with respectto FIGS. 5 through 13.

Referring to FIG. 5, contours of velocity magnitude (capped at 200 m/s)for a no assist situation and for two different motive jet nozzle 406pressures: 10 and 30 PSIG are shown. According to contours, the flow isaccelerated to very high velocities on/near the central axis of theimpactor nozzle 402. This leads to high velocity flow penetration intothe impaction media 404. The inertial impaction mechanism inside thefibrous impaction media 404 is a strong function of the aerosol Stokesnumber, which depends upon the local aerosol velocity. The impactionmedia 404 may be a flowthrough media that allows the flow to passthrough the impaction media 404. The mass average velocity inside theporous impaction media 404, which is another parameter that indicateshigher performance, is also shown in FIG. 5.

Referring to FIG. 6, the flow pathlines released from the boundary ofthe motive jet nozzle 406 are shown. Although the pathlines never reachthe central axis of the impactor nozzle 402, the pathlines areaccelerated to very high velocity by the motive jet flow in both the 10and 30 PSIG cases.

Referring to FIG. 7, the pumping performance (or reduction of thepressure differential) of the central jet impactor compared to thebaseline design is shown. The baseline design has a pressure drop ofaround 19.3″ of H₂O. At 10 PSIG motive pressure, there is very littlepumping performance, but as the motive pressure is increased, thepumping performance improves moderately to around 6″ of H₂O. Thisparticular geometry of the central jet nozzle does not provide muchpumping because the mixing bore is not long enough to enable effectivemomentum transfer to the surrounding fluid. The motive central jetalmost acts like a freely expanded (i.e., without mixing bore) jetexpected at high pressures (20 PSI and above).

Referring to FIG. 8, a comparison between the efficiency between thebaseline non-assisted impactor and a 3.3 mm bore central jet impactor isshown. The D50 cut size is shifted to the left with the increase inboost pressure due to higher oil droplet velocity inside the media zone,which leads to greater inertial separation.

Referring to FIG. 9, a comparison in velocity between a 3.3 mm impactornozzle mixing bore length and a 7 mm impactor nozzle mixing bore lengthis shown. The comparison includes both the 30 and 10 PSIG motivepressures. As seen in the comparison, pumping performance may beimproved by increasing the mixing bore length. For the 30 PSIG case,there is a slight drop in the mass weighted average velocity inside inthe media zone. For the 10 PSIG case, there is not much differencebetween the two lengths of mixing bores.

Referring to FIG. 10, a graph comparing the pumping performance of theimpactor nozzle having the 3.3 mm mixing bore to the impactor nozzlehaving the 7 mm mixing bore is shown. With the increase in the length ofthe mixing bore, the pumping performance of the jet pump improvessubstantially. With the 7 mm bore at 30 PSIG, the crankcase pressure isabout 3″ of H₂O, which amounts to about 23″ of H₂O pumping (vs. about 6″of H₂O pumping for the 3.3 mm version).

Referring to FIG. 11, a comparison in separation efficiency between the3.3 mm and 7 mm mixing bores is shown. There is a negligible drop inefficiency for the longer mixing bore design, but still a substantialimprovement over the baseline case.

Referring to FIG. 12, a test pressure drop map for crankcase flowsranging from 2 SCFM to 8 SCFM and motive pressures ranging from 0 PSI to30 PSI is shown. As shown in FIG. 12, the pumping action created by thehigh velocity jet as seen in CFD thereby proving the trend seen in CFD.Pressure drop values below zero indicate crankcase is under vacuum.There is no pumping effect for 5, 10 and 15 PSI at higher crankcase flowdue to the fact that jet velocity and nozzle velocities are close toeach other. There is greater than an 80% reduction in crankcase pressureat a set design point of 6 SCFM and 30 PSI.

Referring to FIG. 13, a test efficiency curve at various droplet sizesand at different motive pressures is shown. FIG. 13 also calls out the0.3 micron separation efficiency. The general trend seen is that theseparation efficiencies at smaller droplet sizes increases with increasein motive pressure due to the high velocity jet impaction.

The central jet concept can be optimized by using a still-longer mixingbore and/or smaller ratio of mixing bore diameter/motive jet diameter.

Thus there are improvements both in pressure loss and separationefficiency by the use of a high pressure/velocity central jet in aninertial impactor. The central jet design provides an efficiencyenhancement above and beyond the simple dP reduction effect. Thecentering effect of the high velocity at the central axis of theimpactor nozzle pulls the lower velocity aerosol-laden sheath towardsthe central axis and thereby improves penetration and velocity in theimpaction zone. In other words, comparing the separation efficiency of adesign with the pumping jet turned “off”, at the same air flowrate, andignoring the much higher pressure drop, the efficiency of the jet pumpassisted nozzle is significantly improved, with a significant cut-size(D50) left-ward shift.

Coanda Effect Jet Arrangement

Referring to FIG. 14, a cross sectional view of a ring jet system 1400of a gas-liquid separator for a CV system is shown according to anexemplary embodiment. The ring jet system 1400 separates oil aerosolcontained in blow-by gases 1402 from the air in the blow-by gases 1402in a similar manner as described above with respect to system 100. Thering jet system 1400 differs from system 100 in that the ring jet system1400 utilizes the Coanda-effect to accelerate the blow-by gases 1402through an impactor nozzle 1404 towards a porous impaction surface 1406.The Coanda effect describes the tendency of a higher-velocity jet flowto move towards and adhere to a nearby surface, even if that surfacecurves away from the jet direction. The porous impaction surface 1406may be either permeable or impermeable. The ring jet system 1400 employsa circular plenum 1408 surrounding the impactor nozzle 1404 that allowsa separate stream of clean pressurized air 1410 (e.g., turbo boost air),exhaust gas, or other suitable gas to jet radially inwards towards theimpactor nozzle 1404 and towards the central axis 1412. A pressurizedgas jet nozzle 1414 injects a high-velocity gas stream into the blow-bygas 1402 stream between the upstream end of the impactor nozzle 1404 andthe downstream end of the impactor nozzle 1404. The pressurized gas jetnozzle forms a ring around the impactor nozzle 1404. The pressurized gasjet nozzle 1414 creates a ring jet, or a sheath jet, that exits the gasjet nozzle 1414 at a high velocity. The ring jet creates shear forces onthe blow-by gases 1402 passing through the impactor nozzle 1402. Theshear forces cause acceleration and pumping of the blow-by gases 1404(i.e., the shear forces reduce the pressure drop caused by the flow ofblow-by gases 1402 through the impactor nozzle 1402, resulting in ahigher velocity stream that allows for increased impaction separationefficiency). The geometry of the impactor nozzle 1402 and thepressurized gas jet nozzle 1414 provides a flow rate to enable a dPreduction in excess of 20 in H₂O for the by-pass gases 102 (i.e.,crankcase pressure is neutral despite an equivalent nozzle dP of greaterthan 30 in H₂O if the motive flow were shut off).

Referring to FIG. 15, close-up cross sectional views of the pressurizedgas jet nozzle 1414 of system 1400 are shown. The Coanda effect iscreated by pumping air 1410 into a circular plenum 1408 with a radialgap (i.e., the pressurized gas jet nozzle 1414) surrounding the impactornozzle 1404. The circular plenum 1408 surrounds the impactor nozzle 1404and injects the high-velocity gas stream radially into the impactornozzle 1404. The circular plenum 1408 uniformly feeds the small gap tocontrol jet flow. The gap is configured with a rounded discharge edge1502 on the lower side and a downward turned lip 1504 on the upper side,which together cause the ring-shaped jet to “attach” to the impactornozzle's inner diameter, assisted by the Coanda effect. The downwardturned lip 1504 is turned in the direction of the flow of blow-by gases1404 to direct the air 1410 into the impactor nozzle 1404. Thiscylindrical air jet is at substantially higher velocity relative to thecentral core of the blow-by gases 1402 stream, and the resultingmixing/shear creates a pumping effect which accelerates the blow-bygases 1404 stream and greatly reduces the pressure drop through theimpactor nozzle 1404. The ring jet system 1400, which, similar to thecentral jet nozzle described above with respect to system 100, usesmomentum transfer from a high velocity flow (a ring of flow, in thiscase) to a lower velocity core flow. The Coanda effect causes the ringjet flow to stick to a wall, in this case the inner diameter of theimpactor nozzle, and to dissipate more slowly than a freely expandingjet. Test results of the ring jet system 1400 as evaluated using CFD aredescribed in further detail below with respect to FIGS. 16-18.

Referring to FIG. 16, the pathlines through the impactor nozzle 1404 forboth 10 PSIG and 30 PSIG boost pressures are shown. The pathlinesdeviate from the center. The deviation is caused by the redistributionof the velocity field to satisfy a continuity equation as the mass flowrate at the upstream end of the impactor nozzle 1404 is fixed.

Referring to FIG. 17, the pumping performance of the Coanda effectnozzle of system 1400 is compared to a baseline model. The baselinemodel used in the comparison is the same baseline model used for thecomparisons discussed above with respect to system 100. Specifically,the baseline model consists of a 3 mm isolated nozzle at a blow-by massflow rate of around 1.2 SCFM, which causes a pressure drop of 19.3″ ofH₂O.

Referring to FIG. 18, the separation efficiency curves for the Coandanozzle of system 1400 are compared with the baseline model. The D50 at30 PSIG is 0.24 microns as compared to baseline value of 0.26 microns.At a lower motive pressure of 10 PSIG, the efficiency of the Coandaconcept was somewhat reduced when compared to the baseline (cut size of0.39 microns vs. 0.26 for baseline).

OTHER EXAMPLES

Both of the above described embodiments allow design control overcrankcase pressure. The crankcase pressure can be made neutral,negative, or positive, depending on the jet pump design ratios, motivepressure, and motive flowrate.

Either of the above described embodiments may be adapted to include aperforated porous surface (circular holes in porous zone aligned withjet to further enhance porous zone penetration) and/or a conical supportsurface as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 8,202,339.

Either of the above described embodiments may be adapted to employ2-dimensional linear “slot nozzles” instead of the axisymmetricround-nozzle configurations illustrated.

The central jet concept can include multiple motive central jet nozzlesper impactor nozzle. For example, three or six motive nozzles could beprovided in an array and spread across the impactor nozzle crosssection.

Either of the above described embodiments may be employed with anon-porous zone impaction surface (i.e., collection media). For example,the impaction surface can be flat, smooth, or rough but nonpermeable.

Either of the above described embodiments may be used in conjunctionwith variable impactor schemes, where fixed and/or variable impactioncould be jet-assisted to give flatter performance response vs. blow-byflowrate. Alternatively, one or more fixed or variable impactor nozzlescould be in parallel with motive central jet enhanced nozzles.

The pressurized motive gas flow for either example could be sourced fromengine charge-air (at turbo-boost pressure either before, after, or atthe charge-air cooler housing). One possible location could be a lowpoint on the charge air cooler, ordinarily prone to undesirable liquidaccumulation such as oil. Drawing motive air from this location wouldtransfer this liquid to the impactor separator and ultimately back tothe engine's oil sump via the impactor separator housing's drain port.Other motive air sources include a compressed air tank, an aircompressor, an exhaust gas recirculation line, an exhaust manifold, orany general gas pressure source.

The motive pressure and/or flowrate of compressed gas could becontrolled with a throttle valve based on feedback from an ECM or othersensor(s). A controller can tailor the impaction separation efficiencybased upon the needs of the engine/customer in that operationalcondition/state. Controlling the flowrate of compressed gas can alsoreduce parasitic loss (bleed air) in certain operating conditions.

Jet-enhanced impaction can be combined with jet-pump assistedoil-return, such as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,699,029 or 7,870,850.The jet pumps can use a common pressurized gas source and have a singlepressurized gas attachment point on the air-oil separator housing.

The impaction media can be flow-through media and/or not necessarilybacked by a support surface. For example, the impaction media can be theinner diameter or outer diameter surface of a cylindrical tube offibrous or porous media, where substantially all of the flow exiting themotive and impactor nozzles eventually passes through the impactionmedia from one side to the other.

The flow exit side (downstream end) of the impactor nozzle could be indirect contact with the impaction media, either at the collection mediasurface or penetrating a distance into the collection media. The motivejet enables this by supplying additional energy to drive all gas flow toenter the collection media without excessive crankcase back pressure.

When the gas-liquid separator is used as a crankcase ventilation air-oilseparation device, it could be mounted remotely from the engine, such ason the intake air cleaner housing or intake ducting. This is enabled bythe use of a motive gas source having a temperature greater than ambientor greater than the blow-by temperature. In other words, the air-oilseparator can be located remotely from the crankcase ventilation systemand the high velocity gas stream can be hotter than the gas-liquidstream. Up to five fluid lines could be integrated into or along theduct connecting the air cleaner housing to the engine: (a) intake air,(b) blow-by gas from engine, (c) motive air supply, (d) separated oildrain, and/or (e) cleaned blow-by flow. Potentially all of these fluidconnections could be managed at the turbocharger housing. This couldbenefit engine manufacturers by eliminating the burden of crankcaseventilation device design and integration, as well as the cost ofinstallation and accessory mounting components at the point of enginemanufacture.

In the foregoing description, it will be readily apparent to one skilledin the art that varying substitutions and modifications may be made tothe invention disclosed herein without departing from the scope andspirit of the invention. The invention illustratively described hereinsuitably may be practiced in the absence of any element or elements,limitation or limitations which is not specifically disclosed herein.The terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms ofdescription and not of limitation, and there is no intention that in theuse of such terms and expressions of excluding any equivalents of thefeatures shown and described or portions thereof, but it is recognizedthat various modifications are possible within the scope of theinvention. Thus, it should be understood that although the presentinvention has been illustrated by specific embodiments and optionalfeatures, modification and/or variation of the concepts herein disclosedmay be resorted to by those skilled in the art, and that suchmodifications and variations are considered to be within the scope ofthis invention.

Citations to a number of references are made herein. The citedreferences are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. Inthe event that there is an inconsistency between a definition of a termin the specification as compared to a definition of the term in a citedreference, the term should be interpreted based on the definition in thespecification.

What is claimed is:
 1. A gas-liquid separator, comprising: a housingdefining a pressurized air chamber; a manifold plate defining at leastone motive jet nozzle, the at least one motive jet nozzle receivingpressurized clean air from the pressurized air chamber upstream of theat least one motive jet nozzle; an impactor nozzle plate spaced from andpositioned downstream of the manifold plate, the impactor nozzle platedefining at least one impactor nozzle; the at least one impactor nozzleconfigured to receive a combination of (a) blow-by gases from acrankcase of an internal combustion engine and (b) a high-velocity jetof the pressurized clean air, the combination received downstream fromthe at least one motive jet nozzle so as to create a vacuum/mixingeffect, thereby accelerating the blow-by gas; and an impaction surfacepositioned downstream of the manifold plate and the impactor nozzleplate, the impaction surface positioned such that the acceleratedcombination of blow-by gas and pressurized clean air impacts theimpactor surface, thereby separating aerosols from the blow-by gas. 2.The gas-liquid separator of claim 1, wherein each of the at least oneimpactor nozzle is axially aligned with a respective one of the at leastone motive jet nozzle.
 3. The gas-liquid separator of claim 1, whereeach of the at least one impactor nozzle is not aligned with any of theat least one motive jet nozzle.
 4. The gas-liquid separator of claim 1,wherein each of the at least one motive jet nozzle comprises an orificedrilled into the manifold plate.
 5. The gas-liquid separator of claim 1,wherein each of the at least one motive jet nozzle comprises an orificehole molded into the manifold plate.
 6. The gas-liquid separator ofclaim 1, wherein the high-velocity jet of the pressurized clean air isprovided from a turbocharger associated with the internal combustionengine.
 7. The gas-liquid separator of claim 1, wherein the at least onemotive jet nozzle comprises a plurality of motive jet nozzles.
 8. Thegas-liquid separator of claim 7, wherein the at least one impactornozzle comprises a plurality of impactor nozzles.
 9. The gas-liquidseparator of claim 1, wherein the impaction surface comprises a porousimpaction surface.
 10. A method for enhancing collection of liquidparticles in an inertial gas-liquid separator, the method comprising:receiving a stream of pressurized clean air from a pressurized airchamber; directing the stream of pressurized clean air through at leastone motive jet nozzle formed in a manifold plate; receiving, downstreamof the manifold plate, a stream of blow-by gases from a crankcase of aninternal combustion engine; directing a combination of the stream ofpressurized clean air and the stream of blow-by gases through at leastone impactor nozzle formed in an impactor nozzle plate, the stream ofblow-by gases received downstream from the at least one motive jetnozzle; and impacting the combined stream of pressurized clean air andblow-by gas against an impaction surface downstream of the impactornozzle plate, thereby separating aerosols from the blow-by gas.
 11. Themethod of claim 10, wherein each of the at least one impactor nozzle isaxially aligned with a respective one of the at least one motive jetnozzle.
 12. The method of claim 10, where each of the at least oneimpactor nozzle is not aligned with any of the at least one motive jetnozzle.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the at least onemotive jet nozzle comprises an orifice drilled into the manifold plate.14. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the at least one motive jetnozzle comprises an orifice hole molded into the manifold plate.
 15. Themethod of claim 10, wherein the combination stream of pressurized cleanair and blow-by gas causes the blow-by gas to move radially inward,thereby increasing a depth of penetration of the blow-by gas into theporous impaction surface.
 16. The method of claim 10 wherein the atleast one motive jet nozzle comprises a plurality of motive jet nozzles.17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one impactor nozzlecomprises a plurality of impactor nozzles.
 18. The method of claim 10,wherein the impaction surface comprises a porous impaction surface.